NCJ Number
162936
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 24 Issue: 2 Dated: (1996) Pages: 99-107
Date Published
1996
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study combined a standardized measure of stress with a questionnaire about job stressors, individual job and career variables, and personal variables to identify principal negative job stressors and to assess police anxiety levels.
Abstract
The study hypothesized that principal negative stressors would be organizational factors and relationships with outsiders, not potential violence or exposure to human misery, and that the amount of anxiety experienced by police officers would not differ significantly from adult normative samples. Data were obtained using an anonymous questionnaire administered to all members of three small police departments; 79 police officers participated in the study. In general, police officers scored low on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Stressors primarily involved administrative matters and relationships with nonpolice. Police officers who focused on job compensation experienced less stress than those who relished job excitement, crime fighting, and people-centered policing. More stress was experienced by police officers inclined to think more frequently about the possibility of being injured and by police officers adapting to changes in their work or family. The most disliked feature of being a police officer was the work schedule. Length of time in the police department was negatively correlated with state anxiety. More state anxiety was associated with police officers who had fewer children, less time on the job, less time in their current assignment, and a younger expected retirement age. No differences were found between the three police departments in terms of stress measures. 33 references and 3 tables